Customer tailored release master plan generation for hybrid networked solutions

ABSTRACT

A business software customer deploying both on-premises and cloud-based applications can be provided with an automatically-generated, customer-tailored release master plan for a hybrid networked business solution that can include specific information and instructions tailored to the business software customer&#39;s customer-specific system landscape.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. §120 of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/135,460 (which will issue as U.S. Pat. No.9,274,757 on Mar. 1, 2016), filed Dec. 19, 2013, which is incorporatedby reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter described herein relates to approach for generatingcustomer-specific release master plans for use with hybrid networkedsolutions.

BACKGROUND

Hybrid networked business solutions can allow an organization thatpurchases business software for use by employees, members, etc. of theorganization (generally referred to herein as a business softwarecustomer) to access business applications offered via asoftware-as-a-service (e.g. cloud-based) approach as well as businessapplications supported by on-premises investments in business softwaresystems by the business software customer. As used herein, the term“on-premises” refers to software installed and run on computers on thepremises (e.g. at a facility owned or controlled by the businesssoftware customer) while the term “cloud-based” refers to softwarerunning on remote server computers, such as for example at a serverfacility or via one or more distributed computing facilities accessedover a wide area network such as the Internet. In general, a hybridnetworked business solution approach includes integrating and combiningbusiness applications deployed on on-premises computing hardware withbusiness applications offered as cloud-based products. Such an approachgenerally makes use of a hybrid deployment model, in which differentbusiness applications or components integrated into the hybrid networkedbusiness solution offering provided to users of the business softwarecustomer may be upgraded, updated, altered, etc. on differing timetablesthat are often not wholly under the control of the business softwarecustomer. In typical situations in which a business software customeroffers a hybrid networked business solution in which an on-premisesbusiness application is integrated with one or more cloud-based BAs orvice versa, the complexity and efforts needed to operate and run suchnetworked solutions can be significant and substantial.

For example, a business software customer can increasingly facechallenges in managing its customer-specific system landscape thatincludes a complex set of interdependent business applications,particularly if the interdependent business applications include bothon-premises solutions (typically under the control of the businesssoftware customer) and cloud-based solutions (typically not under thecontrol of the business software customer). Such challenges can arisedue to leveraging loosely coupled software products having differentversions, different lifecycles, and different update and upgradeschedules. Knowing the impact or knowing the preparations needed for anupcoming product update can be quite difficult for the business softwarecustomer, especially when the customer can not influence the upgradedate decided by the software vendor (as may be the case for manycloud-based software products, for example).

SUMMARY

In some aspects of the current subject matter, a customer-tailoredrelease master plan can be provided for a business software customer.The customer-tailored release master plan can be an interactive documentthat includes preparation steps to be performed to enable a new featureof a hybrid networked business solution that includes a cloud-basedapplication and an on=premises business application, and can begenerated based on a common release master plan, informationcharacterizing the on-premises application of the business softwarecustomer, and a release master plan management object model, acustomer-tailored release master plan for a hybrid networked businesssolution for the business software customer.

Implementations of the current subject matter can include, but are notlimited to, methods consistent with the descriptions provided herein aswell as articles that comprise a tangibly embodied machine-readablemedium operable to cause one or more machines (e.g., computers, etc.) toresult in operations implementing one or more of the described features.Similarly, computer systems are also described that may include one ormore processors and one or more memories coupled to the one or moreprocessors. A memory, which can include a computer-readable storagemedium, may include, encode, store, or the like one or more programsthat cause one or more processors to perform one or more of theoperations described herein. Computer implemented methods consistentwith one or more implementations of the current subject matter can beimplemented by one or more data processors residing in a singlecomputing system or multiple computing systems. Such multiple computingsystems can be connected and can exchange data and/or commands or otherinstructions or the like via one or more connections, including but notlimited to a connection over a network (e.g. the Internet, a wirelesswide area network, a local area network, a wide area network, a wirednetwork, or the like), via a direct connection between one or more ofthe multiple computing systems, etc.

The details of one or more variations of the subject matter describedherein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the descriptionbelow. Other features and advantages of the subject matter describedherein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from theclaims. While certain features of the currently disclosed subject matterare described for illustrative purposes in relation to an enterpriseresource software system or other business software solution orarchitecture, it should be readily understood that such features are notintended to be limiting. The claims that follow this disclosure areintended to define the scope of the protected subject matter.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, show certain aspects of the subject matterdisclosed herein and, together with the description, help explain someof the principles associated with the disclosed implementations. In thedrawings,

FIG. 1 shows a diagram illustrating aspects of a system arrangementillustrating features consistent with implementations of the currentsubject matter;

FIG. 2 shows a diagram illustrating additional features consistent withimplementations of the current subject matter;

FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5 show tables listing examples of metadata thatcan be sued as inputs to a customer-tailored release plan generatedusing an implementations of the current subject matter;

FIG. 6 shows a table illustrating an example of a customer-tailoredrelease plan generated using an implementations of the current subjectmatter; and

FIG. 7 shows a process flow diagram illustrating aspects of a methodhaving one or more features consistent with implementations of thecurrent subject matter;

When practical, similar reference numbers denote similar structures,features, or elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Approaches incorporating one or more features consistent with thedescriptions provided herein can enable a business software customerhaving a customer-specific system landscape with hybrid solutions toeasily manage the lifecycle of the different products, by providing thebusiness software customer with specific information and instructionstailored to the customer-specific system landscape and to upcomingsoftware changes. A customer-specific system landscape as used hereinincludes business applications accessible to users within a businesssoftware customer. The accessible business applications can be supportedfrom on-premises servers (on premises applications or solutions) orother hardware or can be provided on-demand (e.g., as cloud-basedapplications solutions).

Consistent with implementations of the current subject matter, a leastsome complexity, requirement for human input into configuration andmanagement of a hybrid networked business solution, and overall totalcost of ownership of a hybrid networked business solution can bereduced. While approaches such as cloud solutions landscape directories;on-demand authorization management; shared resource discovery,configuration, and consumption for networked solutions can respectivelyaddress configuration of communication channels between networkedsolutions, user and authorization management across networkedapplication, and reuse of resources, such approaches generally do notaddress the above-mentioned issues with product lifecycle management.

In general, a provider of cloud-based applications has a productsrelease master plan specific to the cloud-based applications offered bythe provider. This provider-specific products release master plan (alsoreferred to as a common products release master plan), which a businesssoftware customer can in some examples access via a service providercockpit, contains one or more of release dates (e.g. date at which anupgrade, update, hot fix, etc. of one or more cloud-based applicationsis set to occur), features to be included in an upcoming release,business scope extensions provided in the upcoming release, system (e.g.processor, network, memory, etc.) prerequisites for use of features ofthe upcoming release, preparations and actions needed by customers toenable a full set of features in an upcoming release. The term “serviceprovider cockpit” is used herein to refer generically to an informationsource characterizing one or more aspects of a cloud-based application.

While information available from a service provider cockpit can beuseful in helping a business software customer prepare for changes to acloud-based application that may impact use of that particularapplication, a products release master plan for a cloud-based solutionis typically customer independent or customer agnostic. In other words,a “one size fits all” approach has usually been applied due to a lack ofan efficient approach to customizing such processes per businesssoftware customer. The provider-specific products release master plangenerally cannot be used alone in automating configuration of otherbusiness applications that may have interdependencies on the applicationoffered by different cloud service providers or that are managedon-premises by the business software customer.

Currently available lifecycle management systems for both on-premisesand cloud-based business solutions generally offer tools for applyingsoftware changes determining dependencies between components andresolving conflicts in software sources during applying of changes andgenerally offer common static release information that is not tailoredto a customer-specific system landscape. In other words, such alifecycle management system typically can't provide a business softwarecustomer with tailored impact and instructions in advance. Additionally,such lifecycle management approaches are generally product specific(e.g. specific to one business application or perhaps multiple businessapplications provided by a same provider). These tools thereforegenerally fail to address one or more issues that can arise in a hybridnetworked business solution that combines different products withdifferent deployment models.

The current subject matter includes approaches that assist in automatedgeneration of a customer-specific release master plan, which can bebased on customer-specific system landscape information and provided tothe business software customer. The generated release master plan canprovide the customer with a concrete overview regarding upcoming changesto a specific application as well as impacts on other applicationsdeployed in the customer-specific system landscape. The businesssoftware customer can also receive concrete instructions requiringexecution either before or after software changes are applied.

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of components of a customer system landscapeincorporating features consistent with implementations of the currentsubject matter. One or more computing systems 102 can be part of anon-premises software installation under the control of business softwarecustomer. The one or more computing systems 102 can execute one or moreon-premises applications (labeled as applications C and D) 104. Userswithin or otherwise affiliated with the business software customer canalso access one or more cloud-based applications 106, for example via anetwork 110, such as a wide area network, the Internet, etc. The one ormore cloud-based applications can be provided by one service provider orby more than one service provider. Various features and functions of theon-premises applications 104 can also be supported by metadata retainedin a metadata repository 112. A release master plan management module114 or other comparable software functionality can optionally execute onthe one or more on-premise computing systems as shown in FIG. 1 oritself be a cloud-based application accessible over the network 110 (orsome other network). The release master plan management module 114 orsome collection of comparable functionality, which can optionally besplit between on-premises and cloud-based applications, can implementone or more features as described herein.

As shown in the diagram 200 of FIG. 2, a hybrid networked businesssolution 202 can include integration of one or more of the cloud-basedapplications 106 and one or more of the on-premises applications 104. Acustomer-specific system landscape directory 204 can include informationcharacterizing the on-premises applications 104. In some examples, thebusiness software customer's solutions landscape directory can alsoinclude some information about those cloud-based services available to(e.g., purchased by) the business software customer. A service providercockpit 206 can include or provide information characterizing the one ormore cloud-based applications 106 as described above. Each serviceprovider providing a cloud-based application 106 can have a serviceprovider cockpit 206.

Further with reference to FIG. 2, a service provider cockpit 206 cansupply information about a common products release master plan forcloud-based applications 106 corresponding to that service providercockpit 206. This information can include one or more of the detailsdiscussed above, for example a customer-specific upgrade or update date,which may differ by customer for large-scale cloud-based applications inwhich all servers of the cloud-based service provider are not upgradedsimultaneously. The common products release master plan for thecloud-based applications 106 purchased or otherwise available to thebusiness software customer can be accessed by the release master planmanagement module 114, which can run as standalone system, oralternatively be an integrated service in the system landscapedirectory, a cloud-based application, an application running on theon-premises equipment of the business software customer, etc.

The release master plan management module 114 can also access thebusiness software customer's customer-specific system landscapedirectory 204 to obtain data about customer deployed products andcustomer systems (e.g., on-premises applications 104, cloud-basedapplications 106 supplied by different service providers, etc.). Therelease master plan management module 114 generates a customer-tailoredrelease master plan by combining information provided by the commonproducts release master plan, other information pulled from the serviceprovider cockpit 206, and from business software customer's solutionslandscape directory. The generated specific master plan can be providedas an interactive document, which the business software customer canhave access to and monitor. Preparation steps and instructions can bealso transformed or integrated with legacy components or system withtask management capability.

The release master plan management module 114 can make use of a releasemaster plan management object model, which can process and merge dataoriginating from a common master plan object instance and from theservice provider cockpit 206 with data pulled from a customer-specificsystem landscape directory. For each instance of the master plan objectmodel and each business software customer, the release master planmanagement module 114 can thereby generate the customer-specific masterplan containing information relevant to and adapted for the applications(cloud-based and on-premises) deployed by the business softwarecustomer.

Examples of metadata that can be included in a release master planmanagement object model consistent with implementations of the currentsubject matter are described in the tables 300, 400, 500 of FIG. 3, FIG.4, and FIG. 5, respectively, in reference to a fictitious examplebusiness software customer “Akron AG.” FIG. 3 shows a table 300illustrating header information of an example master plan. A master plancan be related to several products of a software vendor. For eachproduct the following information is listed in FIG. 2: product version,deployment model, upgrade date, a “release-to-customer” (RTC) date, andlist of new features. The deployment model could be on-demand oron-premise. In an example in which an application or other softwareproduct is cloud-based (e.g., deployed on-demand), the upgrade date isrelevant as the business software customer generally cannot influencethis date. For on-premises application, the RTC date is relevant as thecustomer has the flexibility to decide when to upgrade to the newestproduct version (e.g., as soon as the new version is available or atsome later time).

FIG. 4 shows a table 400 illustrating an example of metadata necessaryto maintain lifecycle details for each feature of an example masterplan. Each provided feature is uniquely identifiable across severalproducts. Feature category indicates that the feature is restricted tothe product itself and extends it in a standalone usage, or it indicatesthat the feature enables or extends a networked solution. New deliveredproducts features may provide the necessary functionality to implement anetworked solution composed of several products. The availabilitycategory indicates if a delivered feature is visible directly afterupgrade/update or if there are some necessary steps needed to enable theuse of the feature. Needed actions or steps are referenced in this case.

FIG. 5 shows a table 500 illustrating an example of metadata covering anetworked solution. Further information about delivered features thatcan impact networked solutions can be provided in the master plan. Somefeatures may provide the prerequisite for a product to be able tointegrate with other products as a part of networked solution. Otherfeatures may provide a functional extension to an already existingnetworked solution. The “feature type” information can cover this typeof information. The prerequisites information relates to other productsversions needed to implement the networked solutions. Additionally, alist of actions or configuration steps can be referenced to enable or toextend a networked solution.

The information discussed in relation to the tables 300, 400, 500provides an illustrative example of a software provider release masterplan. Once the software provider publishes a common products releasemaster plan, a customer specific master plan can be generated. Thespecific plan can be generated based on customer-specific systemlandscape information, which contains information about products,products version, physical systems, endpoints, business configuration,etc. used by or available to the business software customer. Based onthat information, irrelevant products information can be removed (e.g.,information related to not deployed products). In addition, a specificupgrade date for the customer can be updated (e.g., based on upgradeprocess information obtained from the service provider cockpit for acloud-based application). Preparation steps and instructions and alsonew features availability and the availability date can be generated,such that the generated data are customer specific and related tocurrent customer systems and configurations. Customer-specific networkedsolutions information can also be generated based on other productsdeployed by the business software customer (e.g. cloud-based solutionsfrom other service providers, on-premises applications, etc.).Information about the customer-specific system landscape can be pulledfrom an on-premise system landscape directory (such as for example, SAPSolution Manager available from SAP SE of Walldorf, Germany), from anon-demand system landscape directory such as a cloud system landscapedirectory, or the like.

FIG. 6 shows a table 600 illustrating an example of a generatedcustomer-tailored release plan for the example business softwarecustomer Akron AG. As shown, in the customer-tailored release plan, allinformation related to Travel & Expense Management is removed, as thisproduct is not deployed by Akron AG. Also the legal change feature“ID/2345” is removed, as the Akron AG did not deploy the application“Core ERP” in Japan. The feature ID/2222 enables the business softwarecustomer to run a networked solution. Concrete administration andconfiguration steps are generated specifically to the Akron AG systemlandscape. The links to a “preparation and configurations” section ofthe generated master plan can present preparation steps and navigationlinks generated specifically in relation to Akron AG systems. Forexample, this section might include tasks to be completed such asapplying a specific support package, with subtasks such as downloadingone or more components from a service provider, uploading one or morecomponents to a different service provider or to an on-premises server,etc. Other task can include activating a networked solution in a cloudsystem landscape directory, etc. The preparation and configurationssections can include links to further information, for downloading oruploading necessary components, etc.

FIG. 7 shows a process flow chart 700 illustrating features that can beincluded in a method consistent with implementations of the currentsubject matter. At 702, a release master plan management module 114 orother computer-based functionality accesses common release master planinformation for a cloud-based application 106 purchased by a businesssoftware customer from a service provider cockpit 206 of a serviceprovider of the cloud-based application. At 704, the release master planmanagement module 114 reads information characterizing one or moreon-premises applications of the business software customer from acustomer-specific system landscape directory 204. At 706, the releasemaster plan management module 114 generates a customer-tailored releasemaster plan for a hybrid networked business solution for the businesssoftware customer based at least on the common release master plan, theinformation characterizing the one or more on-premises applications ofthe business software customer, and a release master plan managementobject model. The customer-tailored release master plan is provided foruse by a user at the business software customer as an interactivedocument that includes preparation steps to be performed to enable a newfeature of the hybrid networked business solution.

One or more aspects or features of the subject matter described hereincan be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed application specific integrated circuits (ASICs),field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) computer hardware, firmware,software, and/or combinations thereof. These various aspects or featurescan include implementation in one or more computer programs that areexecutable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including atleast one programmable processor, which can be special or generalpurpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmitdata and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device,and at least one output device. The programmable system or computingsystem may include clients and servers. A client and server aregenerally remote from each other and typically interact through acommunication network. The relationship of client and server arises byvirtue of computer programs running on the respective computers andhaving a client-server relationship to each other.

These computer programs, which can also be referred to programs,software, software applications, applications, components, or code,include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and can beimplemented in a high-level procedural language, an object-orientedprogramming language, a functional programming language, a logicalprogramming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As usedherein, the term “machine-readable medium” refers to any computerprogram product, apparatus and/or device, such as for example magneticdiscs, optical disks, memory, and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs),used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmableprocessor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machineinstructions as a machine-readable signal. The term “machine-readablesignal” refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/ordata to a programmable processor. The machine-readable medium can storesuch machine instructions non-transitorily, such as for example as woulda non-transient solid-state memory or a magnetic hard drive or anyequivalent storage medium. The machine-readable medium can alternativelyor additionally store such machine instructions in a transient manner,such as for example as would a processor cache or other random accessmemory associated with one or more physical processor cores.

To provide for interaction with a user, one or more aspects or featuresof the subject matter described herein can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, such as for example a cathode ray tube (CRT) ora liquid crystal display (LCD) or a light emitting diode (LED) monitorfor displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointingdevice, such as for example a mouse or a trackball, by which the usermay provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used toprovide for interaction with a user as well. For example, feedbackprovided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, such as forexample visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; andinput from the user may be received in any form, including, but notlimited to, acoustic, speech, or tactile input. Other possible inputdevices include, but are not limited to, touch screens or othertouch-sensitive devices such as single or multi-point resistive orcapacitive trackpads, voice recognition hardware and software, opticalscanners, optical pointers, digital image capture devices and associatedinterpretation software, and the like.

The subject matter described herein can be embodied in systems,apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desiredconfiguration. The implementations set forth in the foregoingdescription do not represent all implementations consistent with thesubject matter described herein. Instead, they are merely some examplesconsistent with aspects related to the described subject matter.Although a few variations have been described in detail above, othermodifications or additions are possible. In particular, further featuresand/or variations can be provided in addition to those set forth herein.For example, the implementations described above can be directed tovarious combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed featuresand/or combinations and subcombinations of several further featuresdisclosed above. In addition, the logic flows depicted in theaccompanying figures and/or described herein do not necessarily requirethe particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirableresults. Other implementations may be within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer program product comprising anon-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, whenexecuted by at least one programmable processor, cause the at least oneprogrammable processor to perform operations comprising: deploying ahybrid networked solution for a software customer, the hybrid networkedsolution integrating features of software running both on on-premisescomputing hardware and as cloud-based applications, the hybrid networkedsolution comprising an integration of a first application offered as acloud-based product with a second application deployed on theon-premises computing hardware; obtaining hybrid networked solutioninformation and common product release master information, the hybridnetworked solution information comprising identification of the firstapplication and the second application and being obtained by accessing acustomer-specific system landscape directory of the software customer,the common product release master information comprising a release dateand prerequisites for customer use of one or more new features to beincluded in a new release of the first application; processing andmerging the obtained common product release master plan information andthe hybrid networked solution information to create a release masterplan for the hybrid networked solution, the release master plandetailing one or more preparation steps that must be performed to enablea new feature of the one or more new features to be added to thedeployed hybrid networked solution for the software customer; andproviding the release master plan for the software customer.
 2. Acomputer program product as in claim 1, wherein the hybrid networkedsolution comprises an interdependency between the first application andthe second application.
 3. A computer program product as in claim 1,wherein the common product release master plan information furthercomprises at least one of a scope extension provided in the upcomingrelease, and a preparation and/or action needed to enable the feature.4. A computer program product as in claim 1, wherein the processing andmerging of the common product release master plan information and thehybrid networked solution information is performed by a release masterplan management object model.
 5. A computer program product as in claim1, wherein the release master plan comprises an interactive documentcomprising a link.
 6. A system comprising computer hardware configuredto perform operations comprising: deploying a hybrid networked solutionfor a software customer, the hybrid networked solution integratingfeatures of software running both on on-premises computing hardware andas cloud-based applications, the hybrid networked solution comprising anintegration of a first application offered as a cloud-based product witha second application deployed on the on-premises computing hardware;obtaining hybrid networked solution information and common productrelease master information, the hybrid networked solution informationcomprising identification of the first application and the secondapplication and being obtained by accessing a customer-specific systemlandscape directory of the software customer, the common product releasemaster information comprising a release date and prerequisites forcustomer use of one or more new features to be included in a new releaseof the first application; processing and merging the obtained commonproduct release master plan information and the hybrid networkedsolution information to create a release master plan for the hybridnetworked solution, the release master plan detailing one or morepreparation steps that must be performed to enable a new feature of theone or more new features to be added to the deployed hybrid networkedsolution for the software customer; and providing the release masterplan for the software customer.
 7. A system as in claim 6, wherein thehybrid networked solution comprises an interdependency between the firstapplication and the second application.
 8. A system as in claim 6,wherein the common product release master plan information furthercomprises at least one of a scope extension provided in the upcomingrelease, and a preparation and/or action needed to enable the feature.9. A system as in claim 6, wherein the processing and merging of thecommon product release master plan information and the hybrid networkedsolution information is performed by a release master plan managementobject model.
 10. A system as in claim 6, wherein the release masterplan comprises an interactive document comprising a link.
 11. Acomputer-implemented method comprising: deploying a hybrid networkedsolution for a software customer, the hybrid networked solutionintegrating features of software running both on on-premises computinghardware and as cloud-based applications, the hybrid networked solutioncomprising an integration of a first application offered as acloud-based product with a second application deployed on theon-premises computing hardware; obtaining hybrid networked solutioninformation and common product release master information, the hybridnetworked solution information comprising identification of the firstapplication and the second application and being obtained by accessing acustomer-specific system landscape directory of the software customer,the common product release master information comprising a release dateand prerequisites for customer use of one or more new features to beincluded in a new release of the first application; processing andmerging the obtained common product release master plan information andthe hybrid networked solution information to create a release masterplan for the hybrid networked solution, the release master plandetailing one or more preparation steps that must be performed to enablea new feature of the one or more new features to be added to thedeployed hybrid networked solution for the software customer; andproviding the release master plan for the software customer.
 12. Acomputer-implemented method as in claim 11, wherein the hybrid networkedsolution comprises an interdependency between the first application andthe second application.
 13. A computer-implemented method as in claim11, wherein the common product release master plan information furthercomprises at least one of a scope extension provided in the upcomingrelease, and a preparation and/or action needed to enable the feature.14. A computer-implemented method as in claim 11, wherein the processingand merging of the common product release master plan information andthe hybrid networked solution information is performed by a releasemaster plan management object model.
 15. A computer-implemented methodas in claim 11, wherein the deploying, the obtaining, the processing andmerging, and the providing are performed by at least one systemcomprising computing hardware.
 16. A computer-implemented method as inclaim 11, wherein the release master plan comprises is an interactivedocument comprising a link.
 17. A computer program product as in claim1, wherein the first application and the second application havingdifferent versions, different lifecycles, and different update andupgrade schedules.
 18. A computer program product as in claim 1, whereinthe common product release master information is obtained from aprovider of the first application.
 19. A computer program product as inclaim 1, wherein the release master plan comprises a link enablingdownloading or uploading of one or more components necessary forenabling the new feature.